A child in Egypt

Adventures on the Nile with a 6-year-old

GIZA, Egypt — As our camel waded through the crowd of Egyptian school children, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Hellooo, Youssef. Hellooo, Youssef," the throng of tots shouted to my 6-year-old sitting in front of me on the saddle.

Joseph flashed a big grin, launched into his best Queen Elizabeth wave and whispered, "Mom, I feel like such a big shot."

But this celebrity greeting was less about Joe being a big shot than about Joe, earlier that morning at the Pyramids, telling a group of kids--in Arabic--"Ismee Youssef" (my name is Joseph). Apparently word had spread about a little American boy named Youssef who could miraculously speak Arabic.

This was just one of the surprising treats that awaited Joe during our visit last spring to Egypt where--despite friends' concerns about our safety and my sanity--I had decided to combine some reporting with a mom-and-son vacation.

Yes, I knew bad things have happened in this part of the world, but an old friend living in Cairo with his wife and 2-year-old son had told me how much safer they felt here than in most American cities. Mainly, though, I knew that traveling with a small child I'd have to be more careful about sun and heat exposure, food safety and dodgy hotels. And on the plus side, I'd have an excuse to skip some of the more esoteric archeological exhibits and just go for the visually stunning fun stuff.

Before we'd left, I'd boned up on kid-friendly options in Cairo, even discovering an English-language Web site called Cairokids.com. Blending its suggestions with my own favorite memories of visiting Egypt when I was in college, I came up with our two-week itinerary full of many hits (and a few misses).

It may sound like heresy, but I decided we'd skip the Egyptian Museum (too cramped and overwhelming for both of us), Abu Simbel (a three-hour car ride from Aswan--too long for a kid) and the Valley of the Kings (near Luxor--but requiring too much walking in the heat).

Cairo

On arriving in Cairo at 2 a.m., we were whisked by our driver to our apartment (both arranged in advance) through the light traffic you only find in the middle of the night here.

We didn't sleep long before we were awakened--at about 4:30 a.m.--by competing muezzins broadcasting the call to prayer over loudspeakers from several neighborhood mosques. (Though a little scary to him the first few times, Joe soon learned to sleep through it--or simply tell me it was time to pray.)

We awoke for good later on this and other mornings to Cairo spring with its hazy mornings, warm afternoons and cool evenings. We met a town of people who loved to talk to kids and, in our upscale neighborhood of Zamalek near many embassies on an island in the Nile, found just about everything a kid could need in terms of toys, amusements, drink--and food.

Within a couple of miles of our apartment, we discovered a KFC, McDonald's and Hardee's--not to mention a sushi bar, a Korean barbecue house and an Indian eatery. "I thought they wouldn't have any good food here," Joe told me on our first day, "but I was so wrong."

The Pyramids

Before we left, Joe had watched a Discovery Channel documentary about a murdered female pharaoh and had ended up with an aversion to entering the Pyramids. So, instead, we toured them from the outside.

Joe had a blast running around them, leaping from the ancient stones and talking to that bunch of Egyptian kids who were on a field trip. He seemed amazed that the Arabic phrases I'd taught him from a book were intelligible to others. As he climbed the rocks pretending he was Spiderman, I read him the history of the Pyramids. But what really interested him was a nearby group of men tending rental camels.

The men let Joe feed the camels bundles of greens and lifted him atop a camel for pictures (for which they expected--and received--a tip, called baksheesh). But our driver didn't like their prices and suggested a stable near the Sphinx. There we bargained for that camel ride--$9 for a half hour, plenty of time for a tot with a short attention span and a mom whose posterior was not accustomed to camel saddles.

Pharaonic Village

For folks who lack the time or stamina to traipse all over the country, this is a handy if somewhat kitschy place to take in the sights, sounds and history of the country without leaving Cairo--or even your comfy shaded seat.

Part Epcot Center, part mini-museum complex, Pharaonic Village offers hour-long narrated tours of Egyptian history on a pontoon boat that travels past miniature versions of ancient temples you'd otherwise have to travel hundreds of miles to see. Along the way we saw re-enactments of things like the discovery of baby Moses floating on the Nile and the process of mummification.

Joe was so thrilled by these time-machine-like re-enactments that he announced, "I can't believe we're really taking a trip back in time."